Chapter 8 -
The next two days passed in a kind of co-exploration complemented by the lull of Inuyasha's rapidly healing envenomation. The actual punctures healed up after the first 28 hours, making it impossible for Deidara to continue treating the half demon with the antitoxin, but still he monitored the other man's progress and provided for his needs. The blonde had stayed nearby, making his nest for the night amongst a mat of sea grasses just inside the mouth of the bay where the clear waters were of a moderate depth. By the third day, Inuyasha was able to again put weight on his injured leg, though the joint remained very inflamed and painful to move. Still it allowed him to move along the beach if only to find fresh sand into which a new waste pit could be dug. By noon on the third day, Inuyasha was finally able to begin moving around again; but upon the recommendation of his ningyo caretaker, his first steps were into the bath-like salt waters.
Removing his clothing so that they would remain dry and folding them on the shore, Inuyasha ventured slowly out into the water, wading out until he could lower himself completely into the brine and pull himself along in sluggish weightlessness. The reduced gravity underwater made the silver-haired man sigh and relax as the pull on his aching thigh was suddenly reduced to nothing. Using the increased buoyancy beneath the surface, Inuyasha walked through the little cove until the waters reached up to his pectorals. Of course all the while the merman was by his side to keep him steady, not that there was any fear of falling in the water, but precautions were in place.
Finally the hanyou let himself go, sinking in the sun-warmed water up to his shoulders and finally ducking completely below the surface. Blowing a few bubbles out of his nose, the half demon took a moment to adjust to the sudden silence; no waves rolling out to sea, no gulls calling overhead, nothing but the low echoes of the distant currents rubbing sides against one another. The silence didn't last long, however as he blinked his eyes open and found himself face-to-face with the young ningyo that had rescued and cared for him so diligently. Deidara wore an enthused smile and his long, blonde tresses flowed around him like liquid gold. The merman opened his mouth, and where Inuyasha had come to expect an excided or gleeful shriek, instead came the velvety voice of a man.
"Finally your ears are underwater; I hardly know enough kanji to keep drawing in the sand un."
Inuyasha lurched slightly, he had nearly forgotten that while submerged, the ningyo could speak as he could above the surface. Ignoring the startled look on his counterpart's face, Deidara continued.
"It's been a little frustrating from time to time, but I can talk to you now, so it's all worth it right un?" The half demon blinked at the other male as if still astonished that words were coming from his lips. The blonde gave a quiet grunt moved forward just a little bit. Without waiting for a reaction this time, Deidara nudged the half demon's jaw with his nose, shoving him upwards gently. "Go take a breath, I don't mind speaking in parts un."
Simply giving the other man a nod, Inuyasha returned to the surface to fill his lungs accompanied by the merman who simply poked his head above the water and gave his head a quick shake to clear his ears. Inuyasha took in a few gasping breaths before turning his gaze back to the blonde who simply gave him a soft smile.
"Uh… sorry about these past few days… I'm sure saving my stupid ass has been the last thing you would have liked to have been doing… Also I apologize; I'd completely forgotten that you could speak." Being certain to load his lungs as full as they could be, again Inuyasha plunged underwater such that the other could reply.
"Think nothing of it; I owe you my own life, it's been the very least I could do to help you to recover un… but at the same time, I'm finding myself learning more and more about landfolk, and that's reward enough in and of itself. But I have to tell you, watching you and all has raised more questions than it has answered. Do you mind un?" When Inuyasha shook his head 'no,' the ningyo gave a happy hum. "First of all, I always knew that humans and the like had legs instead of fins, but if you don't mind me asking, what purpose serve the loose folds of flesh between the legs un?" The silver-haired man nearly choked on his held breath; the sudden attention being brought to his unguarded loins having taken him entirely by surprise. Pushing off the gritty bottom, Inuyasha launched himself upwards and broke the surface, spraying water off of his lips as he blew the old air from his lungs. Again the blonde followed, giving the other man a confused and inquisitive look.
"D-Deidara, why the hell would you ask something like that?" The merman's brows only furrowed as he gave Inuyasha a look of pure, innocent misunderstanding. The mixture of anger and fear in the hanyou's eyes and posture gradually relaxed as he began to realize that the other male only asked out of candid curiosity. With a sigh, he put up his hands between the two of them and closed his eyes as if he couldn't believe he was going to even humor the thought of explaining the lower organs' function. "Look, it's… really complicated and stuff… and I'm not one to go explaining all that shit…" Averting his eyes, Inuyasha attempted to keep his face from heating up as he still received a look of pleading curiosity from the young man in the water. "Fine… I'm not giving you the whole story, but if I tell you, you have to quit looking at me like that." So as to buy a little time, the half demon scratched the back of his neck. "It… it's part of how we piss, but not just that… it's got to do with… with reproduction and all that stuff too…"
The merman tilted his head for a moment before finally closing his eyes and nodding to show that he understood and needed no further explanation. With enough said, the pair slipped underwater again as to allow Deidara his turn at speaking again.
"I understand. Humans are a more private species as I have come to learn, and I do not hold it against you un. Another question then… It has been a while since I analyzed your healing progress orally, and I feel that I ought to ask your permission to do so as it might be an undesired invasion of your private space un. Though I have observed humans connecting mouths as a display of affection, I can assure you that it serves an entirely different purpose for the ningyo un…" Deidara's tail waved as if in nervousness as he forced the words into the open, afraid that the reserved nature of man-kind would make the action off-putting. "I only want to taste for any poison still in your body, and since you are no longer bleeding, the easiest way would be through the mouth un."
Without giving his caretaker a reaction, Inuyasha returned to the surface for a fresh breath before he even began to consider the koi tail's proposition. Inside there was a tumult of conflicting opinions. On one hand, he was repulsed that another male whom he had only known for three or so days had expressed a desire to invade his mouth again. However, he also rationalized that Deidara had made it clear that it was merely to gather physical information, not to transmit an immediate desire. Still another part of him was utterly dismayed that there wasn't to be any intimate wishing behind such an action as on some very private level he had even enjoyed the first, rather surprising kiss they had shared. There was not a single doubt in his mind that the ningyo man was attractive in every part of his human-like form, and the tail that took up his lower half was alluring in its own exotic manner. It was strange and frightening to be finding such stunning beauty in another creature so soon after his abandonment by Kagome, more so given that Deidara was male. And yet as deep inside himself as he had forced it, that attraction was there.
The emotions churning in the pit of his belly made the question even harder to answer, but as usual, Inuyasha's rash heart was speaking louder than his rational mind, and as the blonde merman broke the surface to hear his reply, he took a hold of the lean, gently tanned shoulders. He pulled the ningyo man in close to himself and with his lips parted.
"It's fine with me Deidara, please… taste my mouth… I won't mind…" His voice, low and gruff, said one thing but conveyed another. Of course on the surface level he was giving the other man permission to analyze his health through the ningyo's exclusive sensory organ, but the emotion behind the words was one of subtle, uncertain desire.
Only hearing the brash words made the blonde nearly choke on his own water, but at the same time it stirred up feelings in his own gullet. Of course males of his species were not granted to be picky when it came down to the gender of their intimate partners given the overwhelming ratio of males to females. At the same time, such closeness was typically shared between couples, and Deidara had not selected a partner and as such had felt neither the passion not the pleasure of physical relations. Still the very notion made his blood pull furiously through his veins. Taking one of the biggest chances of his life, the blonde accepted the open offer.
Moving slowly and closing his eyes, the young merman gradually closed the gap between them, sealing their open mouths together and tentatively, pushing his rough tongue into Inuyasha's waiting mouth. Of course the half demon had experienced kisses of the deep and passionate nature before in his long lifetime, but there was something entirely differently about this. The movements of the ningyo's sandpaper-like tongue were completely foreign, not like the actions of a virgin, but more like shared intimacy wasn't the aim of the ministrations. Firstly the coarse muscle grazed over the inner sides of his upper teeth before the very tip slid over the ridges on the roof of Inuyasha's mouth. Still the merman's tongue continued its exploration of the hanyou's cavity, finally coming to a point that seemed to have built up to. Deidara slipped his rough muscle across the inside of the other man's lip as if looking to taste the Jacobson's organ he had expected to find there. Instead the flesh was as soft and tender as the rest of the half demon's mouth.
Startled at the lack of bumpy taste buds on the inner lip, the ningyo suddenly pulled back from the connection and looked into Inuyasha's eyes with an expression of concerned confusion. His cerulean eyes darted back and forth across the other male's face as if silently searching for an explanation. Instead, the merman was met with the golden eyes of the hanyou, suddenly shouldering with a tempting cocktail of affection and lust. Without offering any response, the silver-haired man gave Deidara's shoulders a firm tug and pulled the other body close again leading this time as he mashed their lips together. The half breed cleverly slipped his tongue through the parted jaws of the handsome creature in his hands, feeling the ningyo tense up suddenly, but gradually relax and relinquish himself to the gentle touch.
Though he couldn't claim to not have been surprised by the secondary action, it would have been a terrible lie to say that the blonde did not enjoy the sudden kiss. He was completely astonished to find that instead of rigid and sandpaper-like, Inuyasha's tongue was soft, warm and slippery, much the way his lips were. The feeling was totally new and gentle yet brash and full of the sweet and spicy taste of lust. Deidara shuddered at the very sensation and nearly squealed as the hanyou followed his earlier example and ran his hot, wet tongue across the textured organ behind his upper lip. The very act flooded the merman's senses with all the rugged, masculine, passionate hormones that rolled off of Inuyasha in waves. The sparks coming from his perceptive lip set a foreign fire in the koi tail's deep center, and as if suddenly finding the directions given to him by instinct, he wrapped his arms around the other man's shoulders and began to return the profound kiss.
Inuyasha let a surprised grunt rumble in the back of his throat as his tongue was met with that of the other man and his shoulders were squeezed by the other set of arms. The invasive muscle grazed against his tongue, but in that strange, probing way Deidara tended towards. It was as if their mouths were speaking two different languages, but somehow harmony was made from the cacophony and passion flourished. The supple organs rolled and ground against one another as if in the heated dance of starving lovers, and quiet murmurs and squeaks of pleasure arose from either man as the kissing continued well past the limit of Inuyasha's lungs.
Even so, all good things must come to an end; and the hanyou's capacity for self-torment in the name of bliss could only be taken so far. When finally the two separated and Inuyasha was able to recapture his breath, both parties locked eyes yet again, and suddenly the merman felt himself wishing very much that he could speak without water so that he could tell the other man how content he felt. Instead, the ningyo simply let the grip he had on the other male's shoulders slide until he was embracing the half demon's torso and buried his nose in Inuyasha's clavicle and nuzzled the warm skin tenderly.
The very moment of shared passion and pleasure had suddenly stirred up very unfamiliar feelings in the very bottom of his belly, and all at once Deidara had become very unsure. The strange concoction of never touched emotions made the blonde longing and afraid at the same time. The only thing he could feel to do about it was to cling loyally to the stomach of only creature that could make him feel as he did. Churning in his gut was strange and frightening and thrilling and confusing, but still Deidara didn't want to let go.